Healthcare & Laboratory News

The New York Times (5/6, Caryn Rabin) reports that the NIH “will no longer allow American scientists to direct its funding to research partners overseas, casting doubt on the future of studies on subjects including malaria and childhood cancer.” NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya “announced the policy on Thursday.”

NBC News (5/6, Bendix) reports, “The Trump administration has terminated” the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), “a federal advisory committee that issued guidance about preventing the spread of infections in health care facilities.” HICPAC “crafted national standards for hand-washing, mask-wearing and isolating sick patients that most U.S. hospitals follow.”

HealthDay (5/6, Thompson) reports a study found that “newborns can be effectively protected against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection through the use of nirsevimab, a monoclonal antibody treatment.” Researchers observed that “babies treated with nirsevimab had an 83% reduced risk of hospitalization due to RSV infection.” Furthermore, nirsevimab “also reduced the risk of intensive care admissions by 81% and instances of lower respiratory tract infections by 75% in children younger than 1 year old, results show.” Researchers concluded, “Our findings underscore the importance of infant immunization programs in alleviating the health and economic burden of RSV disease in the high-risk period following birth.” The study was published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.

MedPage Today (5/6, Haelle) reports a study presented at DDW 2025 suggests that “a new blood test can predict the development of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) up to 16 years before it occurs.” Researchers said that “an increase in the plasma concentrations of five proteins, combined with identification of clinical risk factors, could predict development of MASLD, with 90% accuracy up to 5 years early, 84% accuracy up to 10 years early, and 81% accuracy up to 16 years early.” They explained, “The five key proteins, each demonstrating high independent predictive power individually, can serve as practical biomarkers, marking a significant improvement over current models and increasing clinical applicability for routine use.”’

Reuters (5/5, Santhosh) says the Texas Department of State Health Services reported Tuesday a total of 702 cases of measles, an increase of 19 cases since Friday. Measles cases in Gaines County, “the center of the outbreak, increased to 403 from 396 since the last update.” According to the CDC, as of May 1, there has been a “total of 935 confirmed measles cases...reported by 30 jurisdictions, with 12 outbreaks reported this year.”

Infectious Disease Advisor (5/5, Basilio) reports a study found that “factors such as structural racism and disinvestment in rural communities may predict individual health care-associated infection (HAI) risk and adverse HAI outcomes among adult inpatients.” Among patients who developed HAIs, researchers observed that “the median length of hospital stay was 19 days, and the median number of inpatient days prior to infection onset was 7. The researchers observed the highest rate of HAIs among Black rural patients (4.1%), followed by White rural (3.9%), White urban (3.1%), and Black urban patients (2.7%). In the adjusted analysis, the risk for HAI was lower among Black vs White urban patients and higher among White rural vs White urban patients.” In addition, “the overall rate of HAI-associated mortality was 17.5%, with the highest risk observed among Black rural patients.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

Infectious Disease Advisor (5/5, Basilio) reports a study found that “the risk for invasive Escherichia coli disease is increased among patients undergoing urologic procedures regardless of prophylactic antibiotic use.” Researchers “conducted a retrospective, claims-based cohort study from 2021 to 2023 to estimate the risk for invasive E coli disease after select elective urologic procedures with and without antibiotic prophylaxis.” They found that “patients who underwent urologic procedures without antibiotic prophylaxis showed significantly greater risk for invasive E coli disease than those who underwent procedures with prophylaxis. However, the risk was significantly lower among patients in the control cohort compared with those who underwent procedures with antibiotic prophylaxis.” Researchers concluded, “This study underscores a continued unmet need for additional preventative measures to avoid the substantial burden of IED [invasive E coli disease] after urologic procedures.” The study was published in Infectious Diseases and Therapy.

Healio (5/5, Shinkle) reports that administration of Rebyota (fecal microbiota, live-jslm) “by colonoscopy appears safe and effective among adults with recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection, according to results from the CDI-SCOPE trial presented at Digestive Disease Week.” Researchers said that “95% of study participants achieved treatment success at 8 weeks after administration.” Following treatment, “90% of patients noticed symptom improvement within the first month, and 52% reported improvement in the first week.” Furthermore, 90% of physicians “who performed the colonoscopy procedures reported a ‘positive’ or ‘very positive’ experience with administration, including preparation time and ease of passage through the colonoscope.”

Pulmonology Advisor (5/5, Stong) reports, “Arterial blood gas testing in the intensive care unit (ICU) is frequently not done or delayed in patients who are Asian, Black, Hispanic or Latino, and female vs those who are White and male, according to study findings.” Study “data were obtained from 4 ICU high-resolution electronic health records...databases for all adult ICU patients from 161 US hospitals between 2001 and 2019.” The research was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Reuters (5/2, Roy) reports, “Measles cases in Texas rose 3% to 683 over three days, the state’s health department reported on Friday, as nationwide cases of the childhood disease approach the 1,000-mark.” As of May 1, “935 confirmed measles cases were reported by 30 jurisdictions, with 12 outbreaks reported this year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.” The number of cases in Gaines County, which is “the center of the outbreak, was 396, same as its last update, the Texas Department of State Health Services said.”